Dragon Assassin
by Black Dragon 42
Summary: She was beaten and abused by the person she called father. He turned her into a killing machine, and even made her kill her own kind. All she wanted was for someone to truly care about her and not see her as a tool or a weapon. She gets her wish when her mission to kill turns into a mission for her to help. And she might find love along the way.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_A warehouse in the wilderness of Russia_

Athena Lennox was lead by a guard into a small room with a metal table and two chairs. Her father, Enzo Lennox, sat in one of the chairs with a cream colored folder in front of him. Looking up at her with steel-gray eyes, he motioned for her to sit across from him. She crossed the room as the guard closed the door and took a seat. Her father placed two profiles down in front of her.

"These are your targets," he said.

She picked up the first one and looked over it. Charles Francis Xavier, in his mid twenties with brown hair and blue eyes. He recently became a professor in genetic mutation. Mutant power is telepathy. Athena had to admit that he was quite good looking; even a little over confident.

Putting that one down, he picked up the second profile. Erik Lensherr, in his early to mid thirties with black hair and cold gray eyes. He was a mutant that Sebastian Shaw had come across when he worked with the Nazis in Poland. Mutant power is generating and manipulating electromagnetic fields. The look in his eye sent a shiver down Athena's spine.

"These two men have been recruiting young mutants," her father explained when she looked up from the profiles. "A very good client has asked for our help in eliminating them. I am assigning you to this."

Athena nodded. She knew better than to speak out against or reject a mission from someone she didn't know the name of. Besides, she had an idea of who the "very good client" was anyway.

"There is, however, one problem," he continued. "Erik Lensherr is very proficient at killing and might prove to be a problem. So, I want you to focus on killing the telepath."

"Because without him, they won't be able to recruit anymore," Athena finished in a monotone voice.

Enzo nodded. "A private plane will take you to Washington, D.C. in one hour. Pack everything you will need. You are dismissed."

"Yes father." Athena stood, bowed slightly, and left the room. As she walked down the hallway to her room, she wondered if they would let her join. But she quickly shoved that thought away. No one would help her.

* * *

Charles sighed as he moved the chess piece on the board next to him. He and Erik were waiting on the steps of a deserted Lincoln memorial; waiting for another mutant.

"Are you sure this is where they'll be?" Erik asked. Charles had been very vague about this latest mutant, so he wasn't too keen about it. "All you have about them is that they're powerful, experienced and that you can't read their mind."

"No, I can't," Charles admitted. He was about to go on, but a presence caught his attention. He looked behind him and sat up straight.

Erik looked at him with slight concern. "What is it?" His question was answered when Charles met his eyes, telling him that the mutant was there.

_**'Behind the second to last pillar on the right.'**_ Came Charles' voice in his head.

They both got up and approached the pillar from both sides. The sound of sniffing was heard before they lunged forward. Erik caught the person as they tried to run and pinned them against the pillar.

The two were shocked by who was in front of them. A young girl who looked to be about 19 years old; they couldn't see her hair because it was tucked under a black, wide brimmed fedora. She wore a light green sweater, a faded pair of argyle jeans with a cross belt, and a pair of tennis shoes. She held her head down, so they couldn't see her eyes. However, Erik saw her smirk.

"And just what are you smirking at, brat?" he growled. Charles put a hand on his shoulder to try and calm his friend.

"My, my, what a temper," the girl commented mockingly. She still didn't look at either of them. "If you want to kill me, go ahead, Erik Lensherr."

The two men couldn't believe what they just heard. Not only did she know Erik's name, but she was almost asking for him to kill her. Erik looked at Charles, for the first time not knowing what to do. Charles looked equally surprised, but quickly recovered upon seeing Erik look at him.

"Why would we do that?" he asked.

The girl only scoffed. "If you don't, my father will be furious with me or will eventually give me to Shaw to use me for his own purposes," she paused to take a deep shaky breath, like she was trying to hold back tears. "And I want nothing to do with either of them."

Erik's hold on her loosened on hearing Shaw would use her. She was scared of what he might do to her, and he could understand that. He had been scared of the man at one point as well.

"We can protect you from him," Charles stated. "We want to stop Shaw, and you could help us. If you'll let us, we can protect you."

_**'I think that protecting yourself and your mind should take first priority, Charles Francis Xavier,'**_ the girl's voice snapped in his mind. He was in utter shock; she could read minds!

"It's only a limited form of telepathy actually," the girl corrected him out loud.

"So, that's why I can't read your mind, you've created a barrier." He had to admit that he was very impressed. "Would you let me through your barriers?"

She scoffed and shook her head, still keeping her eyes from view.

"We only want to help you," Erik told her. "If you'll let us." Charles couldn't believe his ears, yet he could hear Erik's thoughts and knew he was sincere with his words.

Slowly, the girl raised her head and looked at them for the first time. The men's breath caught in their throats at the sight of her eyes. Her eyes were an eerie silver color and had an almost predatory look to them.

She looked into Erik's eyes, gazing at him, before locking eyes with Charles. As soon as their eyes met, he could hear her thoughts, see her memories, and feel her emotions. He saw her whole past, what powers she had, and what she really wanted; someone to care about her and not see her as an object.

When everything stopped, Charles lost his balance for a second. Luckily, Erik grabbed his arm to hold him steady. "You going to be alright?" he asked, worried for his friend. Charles nodded in response and took a few deep breaths to slow his heart rate.

Once Charles was able to stand on his own, Erik let go of his arm and looked back at the girl. "So, I know Charles knows, but I would like you to tell me. What's your name?" he asked kindly.

The girl blinked a few times and looked at Charles, who nodded. Looking back at Erik, she answered with a small smile on her lips. "Athena. Athena Lennox."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She was joining the team and Athena couldn't be happier; although, she didn't show it on the outside. Sitting in the back of the car, Charles at the wheel and Erik in the passenger's seat, she stared out at the city they were going through.

They had successfully gotten all her things from her hotel room without arousing suspicion and now made the trip to the CIA facility. Although the ride was for the most part quiet, she periodically looked at the two men in the front. Charles had a calm look on his face, but his eyes said that he was thinking over something. Erik, on the other hand, had been making different faces the whole ride. His eyes had a misty look to them, unlike his usual cool gray eyes.

Athena assumed that Charles was sharing parts of her past with Erik through his telepathy. Even though a part of her wanted to use her own power to listen in, she didn't pry. It was oddly surprising that she wanted Erik to know her past. He had reminded her of her father at first, but he seemed to almost relate to her. She had read his file on the plane from Russia, but this was a side of him that hadn't been written down.

They arrived at a large building, and they all sat there in silence while the men finished their telepathic conversation. Charles looked at her though the rear view mirror and smiled. When he got out of the car, with Erik and Athena following suit, he walked Athena around the car to where Erik stood by the trunk.

"Welcome to the team Athena," Erik said with a smirk. The two men went to get her bags, while she got her duffle bag from the backseat. She closed the door and stood next to the trunk.

"Um," she started. She didn't know how to ask this. The two stopped what they were doing and looked at her.

"Yes?"

"W-Well, I was, um, wondering something," she stuttered. She had never been this nervous before. "I-I was w-wondering if we would keep the part about my father and what I was really here to do between us."

The men smiled at her request. "Of course we can," Erik said, pulling the last of her bags out of the trunk. She blinked at them as Charles closed the trunk. He picked up two of her bags from the ground as Erik held the other two.

"We realized that you would want to keep this a secret," Charles explained, as he came to stand in front of her. "But, you will have to tell them eventually, if not soon. However, you can tell them when you are ready too." He smiled a warm smile at her.

She let out a small sigh and gave him a smile of her own. "I understand and thank you."

They three walked into the building. Athena was lead to her room and the put down her bags on the table by the windows. The room was medium in size, but wasn't tight. The walls were a steel gray and had a double size bed against the right wall. There was a door on the other side of the bed and a door across from it on the opposite wall. There was a vanity mirror, a desk with a lamp and a small night stand by the bed, which also had a lamp.

The round table in from of the two windows was small, but it was alright. The floor to ceiling windows faced the woods that surrounded the facility. She felt at how seeing the pine trees, they reminded her of the woods in Russia. Walking to her bed, she put her duffle bag down carefully.

"Usually I would allow you to get settled in," Charles said, walking over to stand next to her. Although she didn't look at him, he knew that she was listening. "You can unpack later today. I would like you to meet the others. They're very eager to meet you."

She nodded and followed him out of her room; Erik coming behind her. She looked around her to memorize the way to get back to her room, and most of all, to distract herself from the nervous pit in her stomach. She was never good with other people; due to the fact that she was taught not to speak unless spoken to.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to see Erik. "You'll be fine," she reassured her and gave her shoulder a small squeeze, before taking his hand away.

As they came up to double swinging doors, Athena could hear talking, laughing and soft music in the background. Erik walked around her when Charles opened the door, and walked in with Athena close behind him. The talking died down and all eyes turned to look at them.

"Charles! Welcome back!" a girl around Athena's age and curly blonde hair greeted. She came over to them and gave Charles a hug.

"Thank you Raven," he responded, returning her hug. When they pulled away, Charles addressed the others. "Everyone, I would like for you to meet your new teammate." He gestured to Athena between him and Erik and she gave a small smile and waved shyly.

The blonde girl gave her a large smile and held out her hand. "Hi, my name is Raven. It's good to meet you."

Athena returned the smile and shook her hand. "Likewise, the name's Athena Lennox."

"Athena huh?" said the girl on the couch. She was short, but wore high heels to make up for it. Her wavy black hair reached her mid back and her brown eyes were kind. Her skin was tanned and she showed her legs with a short, black halter dress and had a black leather jacket over it.

"That's a really pretty name. I'm Angel Salvador," she told her as they shook hands.

"Thanks."

"The boys at the bar are Armando Munoz or Darwin, Alex Summers, Sean Cassidy, and Hank McCoy," Raven explained, pointing to each boy as she said their names.

They each waved or nodded as Athena waved back. Darwin, who stood behind the mini bar, had dark skin and warm dark eyes. Alex, who sat on one of the stools, had short blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Sean, who sat next to Alex, had curly red hair, freckles and hazel eyes. Hank, who stood next to Darwin, had brown hair and kind blue eyes with glasses.

"Hey," Darwin greeted.

"Hi," Sean smiled and Athena nodded back.

"Say Athena?" Angel asked and she looked at her. "Can we see your hair?"

Athena realized then that she still had her black fedora on. Her hair had always been a dead giveaway when she was on missions, so she would always put something over it. She hesitated, but nodded her head; slowly, she reached up and took her hat off, letting her hair cascade down her back.

Then room became quiet with only the music playing softly in the background. Athena's hair reached her waist with a slight wave at the bottom, and bangs that framed her face that reached her chin. The most surprising thing was the color; it was a beautiful crimson and it shimmered in the light.

Angel was the one to break the silence. "Wow," she whispered. "It's…" But she just couldn't get the words out.

"It's beautiful," Raven said for her. "And it really makes your eyes pop."

Athena could feel her cheeks heat up. Looking at her feet, she gave a shy smile; no one had ever complimented her like that before. "Y-You really think so?"

Angel grinned. "It's gorgeous. Trust me; I have seen the crazy things girls will do to their hair. Is it natural?" she asked as she started to walk around Athena to examine her hair better. Athena nodded slowly, with a light pink on her cheeks. Again, Angel grinned. "That's so cool."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hello everyone! Thank you to those who have read and liked my story so far. And to WritersWayOfLife, thank you so much for your reviews. I was worried that people didn't like my story enough to review.**

** Fair warning, I am a bit of a procrastinator. I will probably have a chapter done and typed, but won't post it because I am lazy. I apologize ahead of time to those who have been patient with me.**

** And for Athena's accent, I will not put in any accent on the words, like you would for German. However, I will put different Russian words, most likely the pronunciations of the words in **_**italics**_**. She will speak Russian on occasion and I will put the pronunciations of that.**

** Thanks again to everyone! Please, R&R!**

After meeting the rest of the team, Athena had been allowed to go and unpack her belongings. Charles and Erik left with Agent MacTaggert to Langley to meet with the CIA director. She had been exploring her room and found that the door by her bed was a small walk in closet, and that the other door was a personal bathroom. She had put her clothes in the closet, the more personal items in the vanity drawers, and her hygiene items in the bathroom.

She was currently looking for a good place to hide her weapons. She didn't want them to be found too easily, but also wanted to have it be easier to access them. However, a knock at her door made her quickly out her bag of weapons under the bed, before opening the door.

Raven stood there with a sweet smile on her face. "Hey, everyone's gathering in the rec. room. I came to get you."

Athena returned her smile and nodded. "Okay."

After closing her door, the two girls walked down to the rec. room. When they walked in, Angel was walking around the mini bar with three Colas in her hands. The boys were over by the couches: Alex and Sean sat in chairs, Darwin sat on the far couch and Hank sat on the other couch. Raven grabbed one of the Colas that Angel held and sat down next to Hank. Angel handed Athena a Cola, then took her hand and led her to the couch where she sat between Angel and Darwin.

For the next few hours, they all got to know each other better. Athena learned a few things about each of them. Darwin had been a taxi driver. Raven was Charles' adopted sister. Sean wasn't in college yet. Angel had been a stripper. Alex had been in an army prison of his own decision. Hank had worked for the CIA at the base and built the machine that found everyone.

"Wow, that's really impressive," Athena commented. Everyone looked at her in confusion. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"You have an accent," Hank told her. "You sound Russian."

Athena's eyes widened a little and quickly looked down at her hands. She mentally slapped herself for being so careless. She had gotten so comfortable that she slipped into her Russian accent. It was silent as a blush crept onto her cheeks.

"I like it," Raven's voice broke the silence. Athena's head snapped up and blinked a few times.

"I think it's cool," Alex told her.

"We all think it's cool," Angel chimed in. Athena turned to her. "There's no need to hide it; it suits you."

She looked at Angel for a moment, and then looked at the smiles of the each person around her. Finally, she grinned and nodded.

"So, you're from Russia?" Darwin asked.

She nodded, keeping her Russian accent. "My mother was Russian and my father is Italian, but I was born and raised in Russia. But you all can relax; I'm not devoted to the Soviet Union." She could see Hank visibly relax in his seat and she tried to hold in a giggle.

"Wait," Hank said confusion on his face. "You talked about your father in present tense, but not your mother."

"Oh, come on," Alex groaned. "Only you would point out something in someone's grammar."

"Stop being a jerk, Alex," Raven snapped at him.

"Athena?"

The arguing teenagers stopped at the sound of concern in Angel's voice. Athena was looking at her hands. "My mother… died… when I was eight." Silence followed after her statement.

"I'm sorry," Hank whispered. "I didn't know."

"It's alright," Athena said with a forced smile. "You would have learned eventually. How about we change the subject, _dah_?"

Raven smiled at this. "Good idea. We should think of codenames," she said in excitement. "We're government agents now, we should have secret codenames. I want to be called Mystique."

"Damn," Sean responded. "I wanted to be called Mystique."

"Well tough, I called it." Suddenly, Raven changed her appearance to look like Sean, shocking everyone. "And I'm way more mysterious than you," she said mimicking his voice. Everyone clapped as she changed back. "Darwin, what about you?" she asked.

"Well, uh, Darwin's already a nickname, and, you know, sorta fits, adapt to survive and all. Check this out." He got up and walked behind the couch to the fish tank. Both Angel and Athena turned around to watch as Darwin put his head in the fish tank and grew gills. Amazed, everyone clapped once again.

Darwin shook his head like a dog before pointing at Sean. "What about you?"

He thought about it a little. "I'm going to be…Banshee!"

"Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?" Hank and Athena asked at the same time.

"You might want to cover your ears." He got up and crouched at one end of the coffee table. Slowly, everyone covered our ears and Sean took a deep breath and let out a screech that blew out a window.

Despite covering her ears, it took Athena a moment for her ears to stop ringing, due to her heightened hearing. When the ringing finally stopped, Angel was standing up.

"My stage name was Angel," she said, taking off her jacket. Sean whistled at her and Athena rolled her eyes; guys were all alike, Russian or American. Angel turned around saying, "Kinda fits." What looked like light tattoos on her shoulders and back, came off her skin into insectile wings.

"You can fly!" Raven exclaimed.

"Uh huh. And um…" She turned to the statue in the court yard and spit acid at it. Everyone clapped as she put her jacket back on. "What's your name?" she asked, nodding to Hank, who looked away from everyone.

Alex coughed. "How 'bout Bigfoot?"

Raven gave him a glare. "Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet," she snapped, then looked at his feet. "And, uh, yours are kinda small."

Angel and Athena giggled at this and Alex looked taken aback. Luckily, Darwin cut in before Alex could make a comeback. "Alex, what is your gift? What can you do?"

Alex looked at the drink in his hands. Athena could see a look of disgust in his eyes; she had gotten very good a reading a person's feelings from their eyes. "It's not, um… I just can't do it. I can't do it in here."

"Can you do it out there?" Athena asked pointing outside. He looked at her before shaking his head, and looking nervous.

"Come on. Alex, Alex," Darwin started to chant, soon everyone joined in; except for Athena. She felt bad for him and it was obvious to her that he didn't like his power; something that she understood completely.

He eventually got up and everyone cheered. As he walked out of the window, he said in an irritated tone, "Get down when I tell you." Athena was in front of Hank and Raven, leaning out the window to watch. He looked at us.

"Get back," he said. Everyone backed up, but only to lean out again. "Get back!" he shouted. When no one moved, he let out an annoyed huff and mumbled, "What ever."

Alex started to swing his hips, and energy started to form rings around his body. When he let it go, one of the rings cut the statue in half. Everyone began to clap and cheer. Athena realized that some of her scales surfaced on her hands out of instinct and quickly willed them to disappear again.

As Alex came back to the room, Raven was ecstatic. "Havok! You should be Havok!" He only shrugged and looked at Athena.

"It's your turn."

She looked down at the floor as everyone's eyes focused on her. "Well," she started. "I actually have a few parts to mine."

"Parts?" Hank asked raising an eyebrow.

Nodding, Athena walked outside and past Alex. She stood with her back to everyone, and pulled her hair over so it lay over her left shoulder. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her long, thin dragon tail first; then, concentrated on pulling her large dragon wings, with emerald green scales, out through the invisible flaps in the back of her sweater. After they were out, she spread her wings to their full length. She stretched her hands, feeling her claws come out as she turned around to face the others.

They stood there in absolute shock at least that was what she hoped. Most people would be scared of her like this, and they would chase her away. She waited anxiously for them to say something. Angel seemed to get over the shock the fastest. Walking over to one of the wings, she ran her hand gently across the webbed wing. Athena let out a giggle, causing Angel to pull her hand away and her eyes to snap to Athena.

Her face flushed from embarrassment. "It tickles," she stated quietly.

Angel smiled at this and Raven came over to the other wing. She lightly ran her hand over the thin flesh and Athena let out another giggle.

"Their beautiful," she whispered.

"You really think so?" Athena questioned as her tail twitched.

"The emerald green scales go perfectly with your hair," Angel complimented. By now, the boys had come over and were looking at her wings and tail as well.

"I can see what you mean by parts," Hank said smiling up at her wings.

Athena felt a smile come to her face. "There's more." Everyone looked at her in confusion, and Athena giggled a little; raising her hand, palm up and fist closed. Snapping her fingers, fire appeared as she opened her hand.

"You can control fire!" Raven clapped.

"And a few more thing."

"As in what?" Hank asked, genuinely interested.

"Well…" Athena wasn't sure how much about her powers she should reveal. She decided to show them her scales. Putting out the flame, she turned her hand over, and concentrated on her hand and arm. Almost instantly, emerald green scales, like on her wings and tail, formed on her skin.

"Wow," Darwin said barely above a whisper. He was at a loss for words.

"Anything else?" Sean asked, curiosity taking over.

Athena folded her wings in behind her, which made Angel and Raven jump back in surprise. "Sorry," she quickly apologized before answering the question. "I can control wind, heightened senses and also a limited form of telepathy."

"What do you mean by that?" Alex asked.

"Well, I can only really talk to someone telepathically, not look through their minds." She pulled her tail and wings back and her claws retreated.

Suddenly, Raven's face lit up and she started to jump up and down. "I have a name for you!" she exclaimed, grabbing onto Athena's arm, startling her. "Dragoness!"

She thought about for a bit; she definitely likes that name better than the one her father gave her.

"It sounds cool," Alex commented, smiling at her. Everyone nodded in agreement, and looked at Athena's stunned expression.

She was looking at Alex as she felt her face heat up. A smiled appeared on her face as she nodded, not trusting her voice. She felt like she was going to cry from happiness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_*Athena's POV*_

Hank took off his shoes and socks, then jumped and latched onto one of the lights. I just laughed and shook my head. Our talk to get to know each other had turned into a party. Raven was dancing on one of the couches. Angel was dancing in the air with her wings. Alex and Sean were trying to crack Darwin's armor with some of the chairs.

I was on the side watching everyone. It's not like I wasn't having a good time, because I was. I just didn't want to participate in the destructive party. More than once Angel or Raven tried to get me to dance with them, but I just shook my head.

After taking another sip of the cola in my hands, I looked at everyone and smiled. But that smile quickly faded when I saw Agent MacTaggert walk into the courtyard with Erik and Charles on either side of her; and she did not look happy.

"What are you doing?" she yelled over the music, and everyone stopped what they were doing. Alex and Sean lowered their broken chairs, Darwin's armor retreated, Hank got off the light, Raven stepped off the couch, Angel folded her wings in, and I stood up from my chair. No one made a sound; the only thing that did was the music in the background.

"Who destroyed the statue?" she demanded. Her eyes drifted to me, and I could tell that Charles had told her about me.

Hank must have thought the female agent thought I did it, because he spoke up. "It was Alex."

Raven and Angel giggled a little at this. "No, Havok. We have to call him Havok, that's his name now," Raven said stepping forward and points at Charles then Erik while addressing them. "And we were thinking, you should be Professor X and you should be Magneto."

Agent MacTaggert's mouth was open in disbelief, while Erik didn't look impressed and Charles just looked angry.

"Exceptional." I heard Erik mutter under his breath before he looked at me. "Athena, come with us." He turned to walk away, and I walked up to the window and was about to follow further, but was stopped by Charles' voice.

"No, Athena, I want you to stay here," he commanded. He looked directly at me and continued in my mind. _'Shaw might be there and I don't want him to find you yet. But I want you to think about how you will tell everyone.'_

I jerked my head to look at him in surprise. _'I've known them less than a day!'_ I shouted in his mind.

He looked at me with a serious expression. _'I wouldn't ask you to if I didn't feel that you should. If you don't tell them, Shaw will.'_ My breath caught in my throat and I slowly nodded in understanding.

Erik had stopped at the door when Charles spoke, and held the door open when Agent MacTaggert went inside. Charles turned to Raven with the same angry look. "I expect more from you," he said then turned around to follow Erik inside the building.

There were a couple moments of uncomfortable silence around us. I wasn't sure what to say, but the silence was getting to me. "We should probably clean up," I suggested.

That seemed to jog everyone out of their daze and start cleaning up. I helped here and there with rearranging things. It didn't take us long to straighten everything up, so we all said good night and went to bed.

**A/N:** Yeah, I know. It's a short chapter. But the next chapter will be longer! I also wish to apologize for the late update. I've been busy and having writer's block too. But anyway, I hope to get the next one up soon, so stay tuned.

Don't forget to Read and Review!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Hello! Sorry for the late update, my life has been a little hectic lately. I want to thank my reviewers; they give me the will to keep going with my story.

NikitaFuryaHaywire: thank you very much.

StarlightShivers: she was originally there to kill them, but they asked her to join and she saw a chance to (hopefully) get away from her father.

Thank you so much to everyone else. Also the word "chto" is Russian for "what." Now on with the chapter!

* * *

Athena dropped onto her bed and spread her arms. She felt bad for what just happened between her and the team. Closing her eyes, the scene just replayed itself:

***Flashback***

_Everyone was eating lunch in the rec room. Charles and Eric had left the night before for Russia to catch Shaw, which left them with nothing to do. She was sitting on one of the couches, while Raven and Angel sat across from her. Sean, Darwin and Alex were at one of the tables eating and talking, while Hank sat in one of the chairs listening to Raven and Angel's conversation._

_ Athena was still thinking about what Charles had said to her. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts; she didn't hear her name being called._

_ "Hello, Athena, anyone in there?" Alex asked waving a hand in front of her face. She jumped slightly and looked up at him._

_ "Chto (What)?" she asked._

_ "We were saying your name, but you didn't answer," Angel told her. "Are you okay?"_

_ Athena put on a small smile. "Of course, I was just thinking."_

_ "Well, you must have been deep in your thoughts," Alex said as he took the seat next to her. "We were worried."_

_ She looked at him and smiled. "I guess so."_

_ "Can I ask you a question Athena?" Raven asked and she nodded. "Why did Erik ask for you to follow him?" Athena only looked at her as she felt a knot form in her stomach. She wasn't confident enough at the moment to tell them._

_ "I've been wondering that too," Darwin said. "Weren't we all recruited to take down Shaw? So, why did he only want you?"_

_ Everyone looked at her, waiting for an answer; only the knot grew more as she started to panic, and looked at her hands. She fought back and forth with herself in her head about what she should do, but she ended up backing out of telling them._

_ She stood up quickly, keeping her head down. "I'm sorry, I need to go," she said before she bolted from the room. Once in her own room, she locked the door._

***End Flashback***

Now, she just sat on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

Athena let out a heavy sigh. She could just hear her father's voice lecturing her about how caring about what anyone thought of her was a sign of weakness; right before she would get a beating. Yet, she couldn't help but wonder about what they might think about her. Would they reject her? Hate her? Or would they accept her?

All these thoughts floated around in her head and gave Athena a headache. She turned her head to her nightstand and the picture she placed there. The picture was the last time her mother would look healthy. It was of her and her parents, a year before her mother died. Athena was seven and sat in front as her mother braided her hair.

Zaria, her mother, was smiling, and her crystal blue eyes held warmth and love in them. Her curly scarlet hair hung around her shoulders. Enzo, Athena's father, was sitting next to Zaria, his arm around her shoulders and a smile on his face. Athena sighed as she sat up and picked up the picture.

'_The last time father's eyes were kind,'_ she thought. She ran her thumb over her mother's face. _'Mother, I wish you were here. I need your advice.'_

A knock at the door brought Athena out of her thoughts. She put the frame down and walked up to the door. When she opened the door, it revealed Alex standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi." There was an awkward silence. "Is everything okay?"

Alex looked away from her. "Yeah, everything's fine. I just wanted to… you know…"

He seemed to have a hard time actually saying what he wanted to. Athena thought that she could see a light blush on his cheeks as she motioned for him to continue. She thought it was really cute the way he was getting all embarrassed.

"Well, I wanted to make sure that you doing okay," he finally said after a long pause. She gave him a confused look and he sighed. "You ran out of the rec room so fast, I wanted to make sure that we didn't upset you. We shouldn't have pushed you like that. I'm sorry."

Athena just stood there stunned. She had never had someone apologize to her before. For her father and the other soldiers, it was a sign of weakness to apologize. She snapped out of her thoughts when a hand waved in front of her face. Athena looked at Alex who was giving her a concerned look.

"You okay?"

Athena nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." She shook her head a little to clear it, and gave a light laugh to herself.

Alex gave her a confused look. "I can be nice you know," he defended.

She giggled. "No, it's not that. I've just never had someone apologize to me before. So, I was surprised, that's all."

"You've never had someone apologize to you before?" he repeated, as if he didn't understand.

Athena nodded. "My father was pretty strict, and apologizing was seen as a sign of weakness. If you did something wrong, you had to do it right. If you made a mistake, you fixed it. No complaining."

"Wow, sounds harsh," Alex told her. He couldn't even begin to imagine living that way. She seemed like a sweet girl, but you could tell that there was a hard, tough layer mixed in. _'I guess that's what would happen with her father.'_ He thought.

She laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess it—"

Athena cut herself off when her ear twitched. She looked down the hall to listen closely. It was a strange noise followed by a thumping noise, but strangely familiar. Then it hit her, and she silently began to panic. Athena closed her door quickly, grabbed Alex's hand and took off down the hall to the rec room. Alex followed her without question, which told her that he heard it too; and that wasn't a good sign.

When Athena and Alex burst through the double doors, they found the others all standing in front of the glass window that lead out to the court yard. The two joined them, trying to see if they could spot the source of the noise. Then the body of an agent dropped in front of the window with a loud thud. Raven jumped with a scream and grabbed Athena's arm, which wrapped around her in comfort.

Then everything was in chaos.

Agents and swat members swamped the court yard, telling them to get away from the window. They all saw a man with red skin, wearing a red suit and had a spaded tail cut down multiple agents by teleporting to different locations, which caused the window to shatter from bullets being fired. Raven shrunk into Athena's shoulder and Angel clung to Athena's other side, the situation making Athena call out her dragon scales to cover her body.

Their attention was then drawn to the opposite window, which faced the satellite. There was a huge tornado on the grounds, and tore the satellite apart. When they were thrown back into the rec room after trying to help, Athena looked towards the court yard where Azazel was killing the agents. The red mutant met her eyes and smirked before teleporting again. Athena's grip on the two other girls tightened, and she let her powers drain into her eyes, which she only let happen when she was furious.

Hearing a low rumble from Athena, Angel looked at Athena. She saw her eyes had changed; her pupils turned to slits and a gold color seemed to bleed into the silver iris. Angel was shocked to say the least, but she didn't dwell on it long for the body of an agent came flying through the other window.

The group watched in shock and fear as a Hispanic man with medium black hair and dark eyes walk through the opening, while straightening the jacket of his light gray suit. They turned to the other opening in time to see the red mutant walk in with two bladed tonfa. Hearing gunfire and yelling, they turned to the double doors. One of the agents gave them up to be let go, only to be killed.

The man that walked in make Athena's stomach drop. _'Shaw.'_


End file.
